Another Tokyopop Title Returns: RightStuf to Release Bizenghast 8

Following in the path of the Hetalia 3 announcement, Tokyopop and RightStuf.com have announced a second print-on-demand title continuation. M. Alice LeGrow’s Bizenghast volume 8 will be available in July for $15.99; preorders can now be made at the discount price of $10.99.

Bizenghast was one of the most popular OEL titles from Tokyopop, and the previous volume came out at the end of June 2010. Based on this cover image, the design will match previous volumes, including the Tokyopop logo, which might annoy some fans upset by Tokyopop’s abrupt cessation of publishing.

Brigid Alverson hunts up some sales figures for previous Bizenghast volumes and speculates on what other titles might be easy for Tokyopop to resurrect. She says, “The answers to these questions will determine whether Tokyopop is aiming for a new publishing model or just looking for a return on work that has already been done and paid for.” My guess would be the latter, but I would love to be wrong, especially if it meant I got the third volume of The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko.

“I DO receive royalties from this book just like all the others,” LeGrow said. “I was paid in full for the entire volume before Tokyopop stopped publishing, and in fact have been offered (and completed) extra work to do ancillary art and the book layout, for which I was very generously compensated by Tokyopop.”